All of that new functionality, and I still can only send the equivalent of postcards -- Opera's M2 Email client doesn't have any support for PGP or GPG at all.
While their initial betas were pretty shaky, this "gold" build is very stable and looks terrific. Once they get the PGP/GPG thing sorted out, I'll have to evaluate it against Mozilla and see which I like more:)
Which means that Linux will, at least for the near future and until the end of the court case which could be years off, be in legal limbo-land, just like BSD was in the early 1990s.
If you remember right, this was the reason why Linux became the focus of so many developers and even GNU -- because BSD was caught in legal limbo land!
If history will repeat itself, look for something similar to happen with Linux, now that its legality has been brought into question. Which alternative *nix based system will take its place?
If we (non-musicians) must feel the heat of copyright enforced by the United States of the RIAA, then so should the musicians. If we can't copy them, they shouldn't be able to either.
When I say "rip", I do indeed mean "rip off". Not only do they want you to spend $.99 on a song, they want to be able to tell you want you can do with that song after the transaction has been made!
Not when I can go down to tower records (or even better, CD Warehouse) and get a CD, rip the songs, and listen to them whenever I want.
I had my Apache web servers set up to automatically redirect CodeRed/Nimda attacks to Microsoft's webserver, and auto-send a message to the postmaster at the addresses that were attacking my machines.
I sent 2800+ requests to the afflicted web servers each day for a few weeks before they finally died down.
My point is, just because you were smart enough to patch the IIS security hole doesn't mean that other people were. There are at least 2800 other people that might say "The only virus/worm I've ever gotten was through Windows/IIS". Saying that it was even their fault is talking about the symptom, not the disease.
If Microsoft would be proactive about their security (as the Linux security teams are), maybe they wouldn't have such a terrible reputation for shipping buggy/insecure products. Sending developers to a "security boot camp" for a month certainly isn't going to fix existing security problems... maybe just prevent some easy to spot problems in the future. The problems will still be there, because of Microsoft's "reactive" stance towards bugs and security holes. They need to devote more resources to spotting potential security problems in existing/shipped software.
There is so much innovation going on at Microsoft that they can hardly take time out to ensure that their server operating system can run a server properly.
Check this out -- With IIS on Windows Server 2003, you cannot upload a file larger than a single packet (about 3K) via https.
It never ceases to amaze me that people forget the differences between what is "Open Source" and what is "Free Software".
If you say "Open Source", and license your software with the GPL, then you are still doing Free Software, just without the emotional baggage. The end result is the same, but your motives are questionable because your philosophical commitment level is low.
If you say "Free Software", well, you are letting everyone know where you stand and what your goals are. There can be no doubt. See "http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-software-for-f reedom.html" for details on the difference between the two.
And for the record, the referenced article states "Free Software" 7 times, and never mentions "Open Source" even once. Their goals are *definitely* not in doubt. I consider this to be a very good thing.
I was recently travelling, and had a layover in Pittsburgh, PA. Waiting 2 hours for a plane to take off is the Pitts (pardon the pun;-)), but what made it infinitely worse is that I was sitting next to the end of a conveyor belt. The airport had 3 alternating audio messages, stating that "You are nearing the end, please watch your step". These repeated constantly over and over again for 2 hours!
Luckily I had headphones (at least until my laptop ran out of battery.. ugh!).
This is the beginning of a war that will make the War on Drugs(tm) look like a warm up exercise.
The RIAA and the MPAA will escalate this to the point that the drug war is now.. get caught with an unlicensed MP3 file and watch as sadistic rapists and child porn directors get less time in prison than you do.
The IBM guys changed Deep Blue's parameters half way through the competition, and it started playing differently that it did the last game. I understand that humans can do this too, but IIRC, they stated before the matches started that they would not do this.
Also, they would not give Gasparov transcripts of the previous matches that Deep Blue had played.
How many chess players go into international championships without watching previous matches?
When Microsoft Windows can do everything that a *nux box can do, and a *nux box can do everything that a Windows box can do, then it will all come down to what you value as a person.
Right now, the majority of the people in the world seem not to value anything, just being able to read email and browse the web. When Microsoft really steps up their customer abuse, which we've seen the first signs of, that's when the *nix boxen will start seeing some new users.
You obviously didn't read the article. Microsoft does this OUTSIDE of the "cookies anc caching" system... this is a HIDDEN FROM THE USER source that Microsoft can pull from to get every page that you've visited, every URL you typed, etc.
If Linus were to do this, Alan Cox would quickly become the defacto Linux kernel developer.. with Uncle Bill in control of the corporations that we work for, we don't have that luxury.
Perhaps this is the work of an international ring of expert black hat hackers who are doing this in order to build up their network of computers that are available as jumping points for future hacking?
I'm not worried about "kiddies" in the closed source world, but about the incredibly devious companies that produce programs. Don't think for a second that Microsoft hasn't put back doored software onto your computer.. that's already been documented.
There's a flaw in your thinking here, mostly because you may have forgotten one little bit of information:
That Microsoft has integrated IE into the core of their OS.
If a Judge decides in favor of Eolas, and Eolas demands an injunction, you can expect Longhorn to go away, and you won't find any copies of Windows being sold on store shelves (either virtual or real). Furthermore, the Judge could demand that Microsoft release an operating system update that would force Windows to exclude all embedding functionality in existing versions of IE. Your next security fix could indeed be the one that brings IE (thus Windows) to a barely usable state.
This could be the patent that killed Microsoft.
Also, if Eolas were to enforce some kind of "GPL'd software only" restriction, Microsoft would be forced to free their Windows source code.
Puts an interesting spin on the whole thing, doesn't it:-)
Yeah, I see your point. I think that a viable business model is here for the taking.
Step 1: Band together some talented *nix code wranglers.. people with a broad range of skills that can handle any of a couple dozen of the most popular programs.
Step 2: Offer support contracts for those programs under a "if it's broken, we'll fix it, guaranteed!" scenario. Promise x number of hours turnaround on bug fixes (varying time for varying degree of difficulty) and x number of days for feature requests (which will then be released back to the original developers).
Step 3: Profit!;-)
This seems like a pretty standard consulting practice style setup.. has anyone been doing this? If not.. maybe we should start it;-)
While you can look at a SourceForge based project page and see that there is no "company" backing the software, I bet if you had a problem, that one of the 9 developers listed on that same project page would be more than willing to help you out for the price of a large pizza... or even for free if the problem was small enough.
It will take a while for the PHB's to get past the "if it doesn't cost $5000, then it must be crap" mentality, but it *will* happen. Most likely because if you look around you, some of the people you see that are hip deep in the community of free and open source software developers are the next generation of PHBs!:-)
I used to think that it was all about the votes -- you know, people come in, write on a peice of paper (or punch out a little hole). Then the papers were all gathered up and tallied.. whoever got the most votes wins. Right?
Now I get to wait for about 15 years, and when children are chanting "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of Microsoft", I will be able to say it again.
.. that we were the beginning of the forces that liberated the musicians from the iron claws and leather whips of the recording industry.
Once we get to the point of being able to disseminate music to the masses in a cost effective manner (read: recording studios in a garage in Omaha that are better than the super high priced ones in LA), and can get the information into well known online music stores with preview, then the era of the 15 billion dollars that goes to 5 companies is OVER.
Slashdot Mirror
All of that new functionality, and I still can only send the equivalent of postcards -- Opera's M2 Email client doesn't have any support for PGP or GPG at all.
:)
While their initial betas were pretty shaky, this "gold" build is very stable and looks terrific. Once they get the PGP/GPG thing sorted out, I'll have to evaluate it against Mozilla and see which I like more
Which means that Linux will, at least for the near future and until the end of the court case which could be years off, be in legal limbo-land, just like BSD was in the early 1990s.
If you remember right, this was the reason why Linux became the focus of so many developers and even GNU -- because BSD was caught in legal limbo land!
If history will repeat itself, look for something similar to happen with Linux, now that its legality has been brought into question. Which alternative *nix based system will take its place?
If we (non-musicians) must feel the heat of copyright enforced by the United States of the RIAA, then so should the musicians. If we can't copy them, they shouldn't be able to either.
When I say "rip", I do indeed mean "rip off".
:-)
Not only do they want you to spend $.99 on a song, they want to be able to tell you want you can do with that song after the transaction has been made!
Not when I can go down to tower records (or even better, CD Warehouse) and get a CD, rip the songs, and listen to them whenever I want.
Or even better, borrow from my friends
I had my Apache web servers set up to automatically redirect CodeRed/Nimda attacks to Microsoft's webserver, and auto-send a message to the postmaster at the addresses that were attacking my machines.
I sent 2800+ requests to the afflicted web servers each day for a few weeks before they finally died down.
My point is, just because you were smart enough to patch the IIS security hole doesn't mean that other people were. There are at least 2800 other people that might say "The only virus/worm I've ever gotten was through Windows/IIS". Saying that it was even their fault is talking about the symptom, not the disease.
If Microsoft would be proactive about their security (as the Linux security teams are), maybe they wouldn't have such a terrible reputation for shipping buggy/insecure products. Sending developers to a "security boot camp" for a month certainly isn't going to fix existing security problems... maybe just prevent some easy to spot problems in the future. The problems will still be there, because of Microsoft's "reactive" stance towards bugs and security holes. They need to devote more resources to spotting potential security problems in existing/shipped software.
I'll trade straight across - your administrator error for my nasty web server bug! I'll even throw in a set of lawn furniture and a rubber duck! ;-)
There is so much innovation going on at Microsoft that they can hardly take time out to ensure that their server operating system can run a server properly.
Check this out -- With IIS on Windows Server 2003, you cannot upload a file larger than a single packet (about 3K) via https.
Innovation at its finest.
It never ceases to amaze me that people forget the differences between what is "Open Source" and what is "Free Software".
f reedom.html" for details on the difference between the two.
If you say "Open Source", and license your software with the GPL, then you are still doing Free Software, just without the emotional baggage.
The end result is the same, but your motives are questionable because your philosophical commitment level is low.
If you say "Free Software", well, you are letting everyone know where you stand and what your goals are. There can be no doubt. See "http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-software-for-
And for the record, the referenced article states "Free Software" 7 times, and never mentions "Open Source" even once. Their goals are *definitely* not in doubt. I consider this to be a very good thing.
I was recently travelling, and had a layover in Pittsburgh, PA. Waiting 2 hours for a plane to take off is the Pitts (pardon the pun ;-)), but what made it infinitely worse is that I was sitting next to the end of a conveyor belt. The airport had 3 alternating audio messages, stating that "You are nearing the end, please watch your step". These repeated constantly over and over again for 2 hours!
Luckily I had headphones (at least until my laptop ran out of battery.. ugh!).
This is the beginning of a war that will make the War on Drugs(tm) look like a warm up exercise.
The RIAA and the MPAA will escalate this to the point that the drug war is now.. get caught with an unlicensed MP3 file and watch as sadistic rapists and child porn directors get less time in prison than you do.
The IBM guys changed Deep Blue's parameters half way through the competition, and it started playing differently that it did the last game. I understand that humans can do this too, but IIRC, they stated before the matches started that they would not do this.
Also, they would not give Gasparov transcripts of the previous matches that Deep Blue had played.
How many chess players go into international championships without watching previous matches?
None.
Where the new 17" powerbook is concerned:
:-/
;-)
"Clicking on this link may induce spontaneous splooging.. proceed at your own risk!"
Good LORD is that nice! Now if only I didn't have to rob a bank to buy one
Someone got a marker and a phony mustache? I'll be right back
When Microsoft Windows can do everything that a *nux box can do, and a *nux box can do everything that a Windows box can do, then it will all come down to what you value as a person.
Right now, the majority of the people in the world seem not to value anything, just being able to read email and browse the web. When Microsoft really steps up their customer abuse, which we've seen the first signs of, that's when the *nix boxen will start seeing some new users.
Microsoft is their own enemy.
1) Write Code
2) Open CVS access to the code
3) Create documentation
4) Charge for documentation, support and house calls
5) PROFIT!
Of course this doesn't come close to the closed source method of making money, but hey, they aren't contributing diddly squat to the community.
Hahaha! Funny :)
;-)
I agree with you completely. Unfortunately, we have very little to no proof of either hypothesis.
Maybe someday Spock will come and visit us and then we'll know which one it was for sure
While I am a fan of the "Club" concept, let's find out if it is any good.
If anyone that is a member of this "club" is reading, can you explain to those of us who aren't what is good (and bad?) about this club?
Thanks!
Wow, someone had a blue screen this morning!
You obviously didn't read the article. Microsoft does this OUTSIDE of the "cookies anc caching" system... this is a HIDDEN FROM THE USER source that Microsoft can pull from to get every page that you've visited, every URL you typed, etc.
If Linus were to do this, Alan Cox would quickly become the defacto Linux kernel developer.. with Uncle Bill in control of the corporations that we work for, we don't have that luxury.
Some "kiddie" most likely did not do this.
Perhaps this is the work of an international ring of expert black hat hackers who are doing this in order to build up their network of computers that are available as jumping points for future hacking?
I'm not worried about "kiddies" in the closed source world, but about the incredibly devious companies that produce programs. Don't think for a second that Microsoft hasn't put back doored software onto your computer.. that's already been documented.
There's a flaw in your thinking here, mostly because you may have forgotten one little bit of information:
:-)
That Microsoft has integrated IE into the core of their OS.
If a Judge decides in favor of Eolas, and Eolas demands an injunction, you can expect Longhorn to go away, and you won't find any copies of Windows being sold on store shelves (either virtual or real). Furthermore, the Judge could demand that Microsoft release an operating system update that would force Windows to exclude all embedding functionality in existing versions of IE. Your next security fix could indeed be the one that brings IE (thus Windows) to a barely usable state.
This could be the patent that killed Microsoft.
Also, if Eolas were to enforce some kind of "GPL'd software only" restriction, Microsoft would be forced to free their Windows source code.
Puts an interesting spin on the whole thing, doesn't it
Yeah, I see your point.
;-)
;-)
I think that a viable business model is here for the taking.
Step 1:
Band together some talented *nix code wranglers.. people with a broad range of skills that can handle any of a couple dozen of the most popular programs.
Step 2:
Offer support contracts for those programs under a "if it's broken, we'll fix it, guaranteed!" scenario. Promise x number of hours turnaround on bug fixes (varying time for varying degree of difficulty) and x number of days for feature requests (which will then be released back to the original developers).
Step 3:
Profit!
This seems like a pretty standard consulting practice style setup.. has anyone been doing this? If not.. maybe we should start it
I completely disagree.
:-)
While you can look at a SourceForge based project page and see that there is no "company" backing the software, I bet if you had a problem, that one of the 9 developers listed on that same project page would be more than willing to help you out for the price of a large pizza... or even for free if the problem was small enough.
It will take a while for the PHB's to get past the "if it doesn't cost $5000, then it must be crap" mentality, but it *will* happen. Most likely because if you look around you, some of the people you see that are hip deep in the community of free and open source software developers are the next generation of PHBs!
I used to think that it was all about the votes -- you know, people come in, write on a peice of paper (or punch out a little hole). Then the papers were all gathered up and tallied.. whoever got the most votes wins. Right?
Welp, not true. Gore got more votes than Bush did. Bush's buddies in government elected him. It certainly wasn't the people of the United States.
Yes, it really is all about the Benjamins
Just because you get more votes, doesn't mean you win.
It usually comes down to how much money is involved.
It's all about the Benjamins.
"I told you so" kind of guy.
So.. I Told You So!
Now I get to wait for about 15 years, and when children are chanting "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of Microsoft", I will be able to say it again.
.. that we were the beginning of the forces that liberated the musicians from the iron claws and leather whips of the recording industry.
Once we get to the point of being able to disseminate music to the masses in a cost effective manner (read: recording studios in a garage in Omaha that are better than the super high priced ones in LA), and can get the information into well known online music stores with preview, then the era of the 15 billion dollars that goes to 5 companies is OVER.